Identification of Inverse Regulator-a (Inr-a) as Synonymous with Pre-mRNA Cleavage Complex II Protein (Pcf11) in Drosophila

A common modulation of gene expression in aneuploids is an inverse correlation of the monitored gene with the dosage of another segment of the genome. Such effects can be reduced to the action of single genes. One gene previously found to modulate leaky alleles of the white eye color gene in Drosophila is Inverse regulator-a (Inr-a). Heterozygotes of mutations increase the expression of white about 2-fold, and trisomic regions surrounding the gene reduce the expression to about two-thirds of the normal diploid level. Further cytological definition of the location of this gene on the second chromosome led to a candidate pre-mRNA cleavege complex II protein (Pcf11) as the only gene in the remaining region whose mutations exhibit recessive lethality as do alleles of Inr-a. The product of Pcf11 has been implicated in transcriptional initiation, elongation, and termination reactions. Four mutant alleles showed molecular lesions predicted to lead to nonfunctional products of Pcf11. The identification of the molecular lesion of Inr-a provides insight into the basis of this common aneuploidy effect.